The theme for this morning seems to be “terrible quality fan-captured live footage.”

Next up we have John Bush’s (apparently triumphant, if reports are to be believed) return to Anthrax this past weekend at Sonisphere in England. I’d love to post some footage of Bush performing a Bush-era song, but can’t seem to find any, so here he is doing “Caught in a Mosh.”

I continue to hope, dream, and pray that Bush returns to Anthrax full-time.

-AR

CORRECTION: PRATO’S QUESTION COMES FROM HERE. MY APOLOGIES TO PRATO. NO APOLOGIES TO MUSTAINE.THANKS TO BORIVOJ AT BLABBERMOUTH FOR SHOWING ME THE ERROR OF MY WAYS.

It has been a fantastic summer for feuds. Just, really top notch. Isis is mad at Revolver and I’m fairly certain that Revolver is mad at MetalSucks. Fear Factory would be like the new Van Halen, if Van Halen wasn’t still the new Van Halen. And I think it’s safe to say at this point that, pretty much no matter how this whole Dan Nelson/John Bush drama plays out, no one will ever take Anthrax seriously again (assuming they were still taking Anthrax seriously at all).

And now this. Ladies and gentleman, key founding members of three of the Big Four are now all ready to throw down. This is a clusterfuck of epic proportions. I wish you could all see my face right now, ’cause rarely am I this happy.

It’s a long story, and, as is so often the case, I am really just playing The Daily Show to Blabbermouth‘s CNN. Here we go:

Click to read more…

I’ve gotten a few e-mails today from people asking me where Vince is. Well, the truth is, Vince can’t write because he’s ill. And he’s quitting the site. No, really, he quit. We didn’t fire him. Swear it. We stand by that statement.

Here’s some other shit that happened in the world of metal this week:

• We’ve heard the new Alice in Chains album, and it is good.
• Gwar’s Oderus Urungus answered some of your questions, and will answer more in the future.
• John Bush is coming back to Anthrax because Dan Nelson quit. Oh, wait, no he didn’t. Yes he did. He probably didn’t, though.
• We spoke with Poison the Well’s Ryan Primack and Sunn O)))’s Greg Anderson.
• We checked out the latest releases from He Is Legend, Magrudergrind, Novembers Doom, and Clutch.
• Unfortunately, the 10th Annual Gathering of the Juggalos really is a real thing.
• Baby-eater Dino Cazares must be stopped!!!

Alright. Time to go buy a vaporizer of my very own. See ya Monday.

-AR

Some of you may already be sick of all this Anthrax nonsense, but I am not. In fact, it is entirely possible that I am enjoying even more than I am enjoying the Fear Factory drama. Probably because I actually care about Anthrax.

So. Reader Aleksander Sobecki sent us a link to this inteview with Scott Ian from Metal Hammer. I’m going to do very little editing to the actual text because it’s all pretty fun to read. I will, however, include my analysis after each chunk of text.

And away we go…

Click to read more…

While I am really really really really really really really hoping that John Bush returns to Anthrax on a full-time basis, I know that could wreak havoc with the dreams of many an Armored Saint fan.

But before anyone gets their panties in a twist: there’s a demo for a new Armored Saint song, “Loose Cannon,” that the band has made available as a free download. It was recorded with a drum machine, but hey, it’s new Armored Saint so who really gives a shit?!?

Download the track from Metal Blade’s website.

A press release tells me that “Armored Saint has finished up writing and will begin recording in early fall for a spring 2010 release on Metal Blade Records.” Hopefully right after John Bush re-records all the vocals for Anthrax’s Worship Music. ‘Cause the version with Dan Nelson just became a collector’s item.

-AR

Doesn’t Scott Ian seem like a really swell dude when you see him on TV? He’s not Lars Ulrich, who comes off as such a prick that when you hear he really is a prick you go, “Yeah, that makes sense.” If my only knowledge of Scott Ian was his VH1 appearances, though, I’d wanna invite the guy to my place to my Passover sedar.

But then you hear these stories that make you smack your forehead, like, say, suddenly inviting Joey Belladonna and Dan Spitz back to the band after the artistic (if not financial) triumph of We’ve Come for You All, and suddenly Ian – and his bandmates, for that matter – don’t seem like such nice fellas. To wit, this statement from Dan Nelson on his unceremonious departure from Anthrax: Click to read more…

Blabbermouth just got the following statement from Anthrax’s manager:

“As announced last week, thrash legends ANTHRAX regretfully cancelled the first three dates on the second leg of their European tour due to new vocalist Dan Nelson‘s unexpected illness. An additional seven European dates are also cancelled, those scheduled from July 22 to July 30.

“ANTHRAX is thrilled to announce that they will play the August 1 Sonisphere festival in Knebworth, England, with their good friend John Bush [ANTHRAX's singer from 1992 to 2005] joining them for a very special one-off performance.

“The members of ANTHRAX have confirmed the departure of vocalist Dan Nelson. In light of this development, ANTHRAX‘s slot on the U.S. SLIPKNOT dates set for August and September, has also been cancelled. ANTHRAX is already actively considering lead singer candidates, and looks forward to hitting the road before the end of the year.”

On behalf of Vince and all the other Bushtrax fans out there who never wanted John out of the band in the first place, I would just like to say:

PLEASE JOHN BUSH RETURN TO THE BAND ON A FULL-TIME BASIS. PLEASE JOHN BUSH RETURN TO THE BAND ON A FULL-TIME BASIS. PLEASE JOHN BUSH RETURN TO THE BAND ON A FULL-TIME BASIS. PLEASE JOHN BUSH RETURN TO THE BAND ON A FULL-TIME BASIS. PLEASE JOHN BUSH RETURN TO THE BAND ON A FULL-TIME BASIS.

Here’s the video for “Safe Home.” Yes, that is Keanu. Go figure.

-AR

Or so says a screen grab from Belladonna’s Wikipedia entry taken by the intrepid metal shit-digger-uppers of Metal Inquisition. And why wouldn’t it be true? It’s on Wikipedia, Metal Inquisition said so, and it’s Joey Bella-fuckin-donna (side note: real name Bellardini!). But hey, the article is actually about the twice-ex-Anthrax singer’s house outside of Syracuse, NY:

The house has three bedrooms, was built in 1990, and has 2600 square feet of living space. Perhaps the most intriguing thing about the house is that it has no central air conditioning. I know that to our non American readers this may seem normal…but for a house in the US to not have A/C (particularly one this size that was built in 1990) is downright strange, even in upstate New York. Why would Joey not have air conditioning in his house? It could only be for one reason…

Click to read more…

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: We’ve Come for You All is the best Anthrax album. Belladonnanthrax had a lot (I mean, a LOT) of classic tunes, but Belladonna was kind of a tool. Was that group anyone’s favorite thrash band?* They grew as musicians and songwriters when they started to introduce more classic hard rock elements into their music, and they certainly got heavier. And WCFYA was the ultimate representation of theses facts.

So. I’d almost forgotten that Anthrax have a new album coming out, because it seems like it’s been so long since there’s been much movement on them. But now the album has a name, Worship Music, and a tentative June release date. Here are some random preliminary thoughts:

• Click to read more…

Last night I had a dream in which a car full of people including Axl and I were headed to some big outdoor music festival. In typical dream fashion I’d forgotten that Anthrax would be on the bill, but upon remembering so — and furthermore that John Bush would be singing with the band — my balls started to tingle. I was excited; in dreamy-dream land, I’d never seen Anthrax! (in reality, I have). In dreamy-dream land, I’d never seen Anthrax with John Bush! (this is true). What an awesome festival this was going to be, indeed!

Then I woke up. At least there’s always YouTube. But I can keep dreaming for the day John Bush rejoins Anthrax.

Speaking of which, what the hell is Anthrax up to? Several months ago they were all over the webernet about recording in Chicago with new singer Dan Nelson. That was, like, six months ago. What up, dudes? Less cell-phone videos of Scott Ian and more music, plz ok thx!

-VN

So Anthrax have been making the rounds with their new singer, Dan Nelson, and now some crappy cell phone footage of the re-jiggered band opening for Iron Maiden last week has popped up online (Needless to say, none of the footage is of any new songs, which the band played at some warm-up club gigs but not at the Maiden shows. Figures.). Of course, making a judgement about Nelson’s talents based on such terrible quality video and audio is totally unfair, but this is MetalSucks, not We Love Kittens, so fuck it. Watch the clips below and let us know what you think. Personally, I’m amazed how much the dude seems to sound like John Bush – especially on the Belladonna-era tracks. Go figure.

“MADHOUSE”

“ANTISOCIAL”

“ONLY”

-AR

Last night I heard the “new” Vader album, XXV, for the first time. In case you’re not hip to this release, it’s the Polish death metal masters’ 25th anniversary album, and is basically a greatest hits compilation – except that all the songs have been re-recorded with the band’s current line-up. Which, naturally, means that late drummer Krzysztof “Doc” Raczkowski appears nowhere on the album (or, at least, not in the audio content – I still don’t have a copy of the DVD which will accompany the disc’s release).

Of course, Vader aren’t the first band to embark upon such an endeavor. Living Colour, Twisted Sister, and even The Sex Pistols have all re-recorded some of their old songs for purpose of being able to license them without having to share the wealth with their former record labels, which is a brutal, and brutally honest, reason to re-visit your old catalogue. Dave Mustaine re-recorded “A Tout Le Monde” as a duet with Cristina Scabbia just last year; Anthrax re-recorded a bunch of old Joey Belladonna tunes with John Bush for their Greater of Two Evils* collection; hell, Dimmu Borgir re-recorded their entire album Stormblast because they were so unhappy with the original, and as I understand it, it’s only by the grace of God that we don’t have Appetite for Destruction 2000, featuring Axl Rose’s “revamped” GN’R in place of the original (although a half of a re-recorded “Sweet Child O’Mine” does roll over the closing credits of the Adam Sandler vehicle Big Daddy).

What, one has to wonder, is the point of re-recording all the band’s old songs?

Click to read more…

I know it’s completely unfair to to judge material based on brief, less-than-studio quality clips, but c’mon, this is MetalSucks. We don’t give a fuck about being fair.

So a few days ago there was a 30 second clip of a new Anthrax song, “Fight ‘Em ‘Till You Can’t Fight No More,” posted as the intro on their official website. It seems to be down now (maybe it didn’t exactly get the warmest response from the Blabbermutts)… it was not the greatest thing I’ve ever heard, although it definitely had potential; it had a very old-school thrash riff right out of the Belladona-era, but new vocalist Dan Nelson sounded decidedly more in the vein of John Bush. I hope the ‘Thrax keep in mind the old adage “You can’t please all the people all the time.” Still, this album has 4/5ths of the We’ve Come for You All line-up, so I choose to remain cautiously optimistic.

Meanwhile, there’s also a 30 second clip of a new Motley Crue tune, “The Saints of Los Angeles,” floating around the net. It sounds a lot like old Motley Crue, which means it’s already a hundred times better than “If I Die Tomorrow” or “Sick Love Song.” Below is a YouTube clip of the song; listen quickly before we get Motley Sued.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/LEmENjnxaNk" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

-AR

Anthrax is strongly rumored (originally reported by Metal-Blast)to have recruited ex-Devilsize and ex-Me, My Enemy singer Dan Nelson as their new singer. Strangely, no one knows much about the guy; Me, My Enemy’s MySpace page had music up until Dec 4 but it has since been taken down. According to Metal-Blast, “Dan sounds quite a bit like John Bush and has even listed him as one of his primary vocal influences.”That, if you ask us, is a good thing. I swear that when I posted about John Bush this morning I had no idea about this.

Blabbermouth reports that pictures of Nelson with Devilsize can be found at this location, and that Nelson is supposedly the one long-haired member in the photos.

-VN

After arguing about Avenged Sevenfold and new vs. old Metallica, I’d say John Bush / Anthrax is the most volatile topic here on MetalSucks. But arguing about it just never gets old. Last night I threw on Volume 8: The Threat is Real, and GOD DAMN, did John Bush — as well as the whole band during John Bush’s tenure — did he fucking rule, or what?? Will he please get back in Anthrax and make more awesome music? Rather than write another open letter to John, let’s try this instead:

Dear John,

What I wrote here.

Sincerely,
Vince Neilstein.

Anthrax – “Catharsis” (from Volume 8: The Threat is Real)

-VN